قد خططنا للمعالي مضجعا

ودفنا الدينَ والدنيا معا

We had lofty aspirations laid out,

And buried both religion and worldliness together.

وعقدنا للمساعي مأتماً

ونعينا الفخرَ فيه أجمعا

And held bereavement rites for endeavors,

And collectively mourned the loss of pride.

آه ماذا وارت الأرضُ التي

رمقُ العالم فيها أُودعا

Oh, what has the earth, which

The glance of the world was deposited in, buried?

وارت الشخصَ الذي في حمله

نحنُ والأملاكُ سرنا شرعا

And what person, who in his struggle

We and the angels walked together uprightly, buried?

صاحب النعش الذي قد رُفعت

بركاتُ الأرضِ لمَّا رفعا

The coffin, which blessings of the earth were raised for when it was raised,

Of a king alive and dead, whose fate refused anything but the highest courtyard.

ملكٌ حيًّا وميتاً قد أبى

قدرُه إلاَّ الرواقَ الأرفعا

If you ask how he competed with that zeal,

In which he contended with the fierce lion in its den.

إن تسلني كيف من ذاك الحمى

فيه زاحمنَ العرينَ المسبعا

Through it he brought his cub closer,

The lion of God, alive and responsive to the call.

فبه أدنى إليه شبله

أسدَ الله وحيًّا ودعا

So we asked her, though her eyes were shedding tears

And she was calling them "teardrops".

فأسلناها على إنسانها

حدقاً وهي تسمّى أدمعا

And we wet the soil of the grave they buried

The pious and devout man in.

وبللنا تربة القبر الذي

دفنوا فيه التقى والورعا

And we uncovered it violently, rock upon rock,

Falling upon it in pieces.

وعقرناها حشاً فوق حشاً

يتساقطن عليه قطعا

And we sprinkled it, but with entrails,

Which ardent passion made with it as it made.

ونضحناها ولكن مهجاً

صنع الوجدُ بها ما صنعا

So for what do we brace ourselves?

The sayer lied, “My heart has returned.”

فعلى ماذا نشدُّ الأضلعا

كذبَ القائلُ قلبي رجعا

And we undid the knot of patience in agony,

And strained against ardent passion.

وحللنا عقدة الصبر أسًى

وعلى الوجد شددنا الأضلعا

And we returned without returning, and nothing remains for us

Except a glance restraining what did not return.

ورجعنا لا رجعنا وبنا

رمقٌ ممسكه ما رجعا

Oh son of my friend, I have a blazing fire

That fills my chest however much it expanded.

يا ابن ودّي إنَّ عندي فورةً

تملأ الجنبين كيف اتَّسعا

So to Mecca, for in it lies

The society of the Living, Comforter of all.

فإلى مكَّة لي إنَّ بها

مندى الحيِّ المعزّي أجمعا

Head to it and rely on its open plain,

It used to be the gathering place of nobility.

ابتدرها واعتمد بطحاءها

إنَّها كانت لفهرٍ مجمعا

Stand in it and forbid all of Quraysh,

For Quraysh today has died altogether.

قفْ بها وانعَ قريشاً كلَّها

فقريشُ اليوم قد ماتوا معا

And with the water of Sheba’s praise, take

A drink that shatters the ribs within you.

وتعمَّد شيبة الحمدِ وخذْ

نفثةً تحطمُ منها الأضلعا

Tell him that if he died a painful death before,

Then he has died now at the mourning of bereavement.

قلْ له إن متَّ قدماً وجعاً

فمت الآن بنعيٍ جزعا

A slamming misfortune cracked your egg,

The heart of revelation split open against it.

صدعت بيضتكم قارعةٌ

كبدُ الوحيِ عليها انصدعا

The coat of armour of Hashimites, which

My cloak deemed sufficient to be armoured, vanished.

زالَ درعُ الهاشميين الذي

بردائيْ حسبيه ادَّرعا

And the glory of all Nizar folded up

At an affliction that commanded it to submit.

وانطوى عزُّ نزار كلّها

بمصابٍ سامها أن تخضعا

Today I have not lost except a mountain

To which the frightened would resort for refuge.

ما فقدتُ اليوم إلاَّ جبلاً

نحوه يلجأ من قد روِّعا

It had been firmly rooted for a time but against

The chests of enemies, then was uprooted.

كانَ أرسى زمناً لكن على

مهج الأعداء ثم اقتلعا

The hands of doom brandished their swords

So the endless flow of time sought refuge from it in fright.

شهرت أيدي المنايا سيفها

فاستعاذَ الدهرُ منها فزعا

And it protected its nose in its palm,

Yet the palm-less protected the hand-less!

وحمى عن أنفه في كفِّه

فإذا الأقطعُ يحمي الأجدعا

Deafening the hearing of guidance, a slamming

Never to be slammed against its like before.

قرعت سمعَ الهُدى واعيةٌ

أبداً في مثلها ما قُرعا

If an eye had seen what no eye witnessed,

It would have seen our eyes with Gabriel crying blood.

لو رأت ما غاب عينٌ لرأت

عيننا جبريلَ يُدمي الإصبعا

Saying, “It is enough, stop grieving over Hashim,

And head up the hill, hastening.”

قائلاً حسبُك ملْ عن هاشمٍ

وعلى الفيحاءِ عرِّج مسرعا

It is the association of the Exalted which

Contained that most inaccessible and unassailable being.

إنَّها منعقدُ النادي الذي

قد حوى ذاك الجناب الأمنعا

Stand in it with the stance of a consoler, restraining

A liver that fell in a severed palm.

قفْ بها وقفة عانٍ ممسكاً

كبداً طاحت بكفٍّ قطعا

Harness the camel of ardour and say

You are not, O camel, that camel.

وأنخ راحلة الوجد وقل

لستِ يا أربعُ تلك الأربعا

But rather you were protection over time

In which the nights found no covetousness.

إنَّما كنت على الدهر حمًى

لم تجدْ فيك الليالي مطمعا

In you, the guidance was revived

By the Possessor, who caused deviance to die.

بعليم فيك قد أحيا الهدى

ومليكٍ قد أماتَ البدعا

So blindness and injustice parted from you

While justice and equity gathered in you.

فالعمى والجورُ عنك افترقا

والجدا والعدل فيك اجتمعا

With the Father of Righteousness if the world went astray

And my brother of splendour if the caller called.

بأبِ الرشد إذا ضلَّ الورى

وأخي الجلّى إذا الداعي دعا

By my life, worries have overwhelmed the one

Who was most eloquent of speech among the eloquent.

قد لعمري راعك الخطبُ بمن

كانَ في الخطبِ الكميَّ الأروعا

His mourner's earnestness made us say “jester!”

Not knowing the essence of the one he was mourning.

جدَّ ناعيه فقلنا هازلٌ

ليس يدري كنه مَن كانَ نعى

So when the appeal refused the one

Whose intestines burst from it in agony,

فدعا لمَّا أبى تلك التي

طارت الأحشاء منها جزعا

The rain had cried for its brother before you

So wring out your livers with tears.

قد بكى الغيثُ أخاهُ قبلكم

فانضحوا الأكبادَ منكم أدمعا

Al-Sadiq Jaʿfar has departed from you

And with him Islam was forcibly anguished.

رحلَ الصادقُ منكم جعفرٌ

وبه الإِسلامُ قسراً فُجعا

So to where? Is there a course

They have endured, never to cool?

فإلى أينَ وهل من مذهبٍ

كابدوها غلَّةً لن تنقعا

Oh Abu Musa, perk up your hearing for me

And force yourself today not to hear.

يا أبا موسى أصخ لي سامعاً

وبرغمي اليوم أن لا تسمعا

Rather, it suffices me in agony to see

Death has emptied this place of you.

بل كفاني لوعةً أنِّي أرى

منك أخلى الموتُ هذا الموضعا

Or do you not have in the Exalted’s association

Whose rhymes you never stopped making harmonious?

أوَما عندك في نادي العُلى

لم تزل تحلو القوافي موقعا

Where is that face I greeted

With the wit of praise, radiating nothing but light?

أين ذاكَ الوجهُ ما حيّيته

بطريف المدح إلاَّ التمعا

Where is that palm from which generosity dripped

Whenever the living being was miserly or prevented?

أينَ ذاكَ الكفُّ تندى كرماً

كلَّما جفَّ الحيا أو منعا

So sink your fangs into it together.

The protector who praises you has died, O twitterer,

هاكِ يا أفعى الليالي كبدي

فانهشي منها بنابيْك معا

Dripping lethal poison like tears that smear.

Shudder, O earth, for us,

ماتَ من يثنيك يا نضناضةً

ترشحين الموت سمًّا منقعا

For the clouds of generosity have uncovered us.

And the fringes of glory diminished, passing away,

واقشعرِّي أيُّها الأرضُ بنا

فغمامُ الجودِ عنَّا انقشعا

For the pillar of glory was plucked from you.

Time stumbled, so say neither blame

وطرافَ المجد قوِّض زائلاً

فعمادُ المجدِ منك انتزعا

Nor excuse, but take both from it or leave both.

For it has come with a slam that

عثر الدهرُ فقولا لا لعاً

فخذا باللوم منه أو دعا

Shattered the backbone of the Exalted and broke it.

All troubles end at it,

فلقد جاءَ بها قاصمةً

خلعت صلبَ العُلى فانخلعا

So transgression and forgiveness came together.

More knowing which traits it slammed,

انتهت كلُّ الرزايا عندها

فتعدَّى العذلُ والعذر معا

Or more knowing which drink it poured.

So the eyelid of religion turned to mote

أدرى أيَّ صفاتٍ قرعا

أم درى أيَّ قناةٍ صدعا

Whose speck the Mahdi removed until it was laid to rest.

But the Mahdi among us is a verse

فاستحالت مقلةُ الدين قذاً

طبّه المهديُّ حتَّى هجعا

That amazed the Creator in what He originated.

No shocks could shake his patience, which

إنَّما المهديُّ فينا آيةٌ

بهر الخالقَ فيما ابتدعا

If it slammed the Shining Garden, it would quake.

He controlled his eyelids, but his heart

لم يزعزعْ حلمه الخطبُ الذي

لو به يقرع رضوى زعزعا

And the fervour behind his ribs trembled.

O you who carry the burdens of the Exalted,

ملكَ الأجفانَ لكن قلبُه

والجوى خلف الضلوع اصطرعا

Taking them on though they weigh heavily upon you.

You are the nation’s leader, and through you

أيُّها الحاملُ أعباءَ العُلى

ناهضاً في ثقلها مضطلعا

The religion of following has been legislated for them.

Those stung by the viper of misery seek remedy

مقتدى الأمَّة أنتم ولهم

بكم دينُ التأسِّي شرعا

In the incantations of your dreams.

You were raised in houses which

يتداوى برقى أحلامكم

مَن بأفعى رزئه قد لُسعا

God permitted to be elevated.

I do not see al-Fihā’ except as a forest

قد نشأتم في بيوتٍ لكم

أذن اللهُ بها أن ترفعا

Where one lion succeeds another.

If Abu Musa departs from it, here is

لا أرى الفيحاءَ إلاَّ غابةً

سبعٌ يخلفُ فيها سبعا

Abu al-Hadi returning to it.

One lantern for another lantern in exchange,

إن مضى عنها أبو موسى فها

بأبي الهادي إليها رجعا

That one extinguished while this one shines.

A glory who extends a palm that never ceased

من سراجٍ في سراجٍ بدلٌ

انطفى ذاكَ وهذا سطعا

To be a retreat for the one seeking dew.

Of high spirit the mind cannot attain, nor

ماجدٌ يبسطُ كفًّا لم تزلْ

لمن ارتادَ الندى منتجعا

Can the bird of imagination alight upon it.

A master whom glory told “Rise up

ذو عُلًى ما نالها العقلُ ولا

طائرُ الوهم عليها وقعا

Where you will not find exaltedness rising higher.”

And confined the word to him, but he

سيِّدٌ قالَ له المجدُ ارتفع

حيث لا تلقى السهى مرتفعا

Followed the Chosen One, adhering.

So he flowed in his wake, mounting

وحّد القول له لكنَّه

بأبي القاسم ثنَّى متبعا

And riding the Gemini obediently.

And the glory on his face, which

فجرى في إثره مرتفعاً

يركب الجوزاءَ ظهراً طيِّعا

That one had on al-Husayn’s face, radiated.

My lords, pardon me, I have been shaken by a blow

وسنا المجد الذي في وجهه

ذاكَ في وجهِ الحسين التمعا

That silenced the eloquent orator in me.

My tongue did not stop eulogizing Jaʿfar

سادتي عفواً دهتني صدمةٌ

أفحمت منِّي الخطيبَ المصقعا

Or my beloved before that even if cut off.

لم أخل ينعى لساني جعفراً

وبودِّي قبل ذا لو قطعا